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View Poll Results: What city do you think SriLankan Airlines will start new service to?

Alright Banu - you can do the age statistics of the forum users too....

My first flight was to Rome on UL 5XX via Dubai on L1011. It was late March 1989 and I was 29 years old at that time (Banu - do your maths now). flight was delayed from 1.00 AM to 5.30 AM. My girl friend (now my wife) and my mother came to drop us with a friend and they saw another UL taking off at 1.00 AM and my friend saw tears in both of their eyes. He wrote a nice write up on my wedding day out of this. By the way, at boarding they said it is free seating due to change of aircraft (I believe they had more than one seating configurations in L10's) and there was a mad rush to grab a seat. I saw parents/kids husbands/wives all over and cabin crew was kind of helpful to sort out mixups. It was a day time flight and the other most memorable thing was we were on hold over city of Rome for at least couple of rounds with a clear view of all the landmarks prior to landing at Fiumicino.

i VOTED 4 options , Mel , Seoul , KTM , Nairobi .... we have enough Indian connections now lets try to bring out some crowd from the other end of the world , though many indians come to sl there is not much effect on us , these people are same as mine low budget ..... so lets try to get some more $ from other destinations , Make a Journey to China stop over at KTM . India doesnt allow us to do CMB - DEL - KTM bcz DEL - KTM is a fully packed flight and they dnt want to share the income between us , but also KTM - PEK is a fully packed destination i knw it well coz i have been there so we can try that

Madurai . The reason is not just because of above results . But one of Oldest cities with enormous tourist potential who have to take the long route to come in . Eventhough it still ranks on top in southern tourism .
Be it kodaikanal or Rameswaram or Madurai Temple or Kanyakumari or Courtallam Herbal falls its the only transit .
International Travellers will be happy to land in Madurai directly from london .

Amazing to see local support for madurai airport .

Great going ! Srilankan airlines - Tamilnadu market is urs to take Srilanka tamilnadu relationship to new level

State attracted over 14 crore tourists during 2011

Tamil Nadu remains an all-season destination for tourists – backpackers heading for the beaches, the city-bred searching for that rural experience, the devout seeking spiritual solace in myriad temples, the ones bound for hill stations to escape the blazing sun, or those arriving for treatment.

More than 14 crore tourists visited Tamil Nadu during 2011, marking a 42.34 per cent increase over the previous year in which the State played host to 10.58 crore visitors.

According to the State Tourism Department's data, the flow of foreign tourists into the State was 33.08 lakh last year as against 28.04 lakh in 2010. Domestic tourists accounted for 13.67 crore in 2011 against 10.30 crore the previous year. Since 2008, the domestic tourists' arrivals have doubled while that of foreign visitors has gone up by 50 per cent.

“The number represents a 10 per cent increase over the corresponding period in the previous year. It could have been much more but for the fact that the State faced Assembly and civic polls, frequent change of officers in the tourism department and delay in announcing tourism-related promotional activities,” said a senior official.

Talking to The Hindu, some of the leading travel operators said: “These figures reinforce the fact that Tamil Nadu is an all-season destination whether for beach tourism, rural tourism, health tourism or leisure tourism. If we continue to post 30 per cent growth in tourists' arrival, we can definitely reach the topmost slot in tourists' arrival.”

Out of the 14 crore tourists, Chennai received about 1.29 crore, including 6.68 lakh foreigners, followed by Rameswaram 97.58 lakh, Madurai (84.93 lakh), Tiruvannamalai (81.05 lakh) and Kodaikanal (79.10 lakh).

Well-known hill stations such as Udhagamandalam and Coonoor played hosts to 77 lakh visitors. Interestingly, lesser known tourist spots are getting more number of domestic and foreign tourists. Yercaud was visited by 39.33 lakh, Yelagiri received 5.90 lakh visitors and Hogenakkal played host to 56.68 lakh people.

Mamallapuram has been receiving a steady flow of foreign tourists throughout the year. About 300 foreigners visited Mamallapuram daily to witness the December-January Music and dance festival. In all, the shore temple collectively received 32.47 lakh visitors.

Foreigners also visited temple towns in big numbers. Rameswaram and Madurai were the preferred destination for the local and foreign visitors.

Kanyakumari was visited by 73.25 lakh visitors. Poompuhar, Panchalankuruchi, Pichavaram, Mudumalai and Courtallam were also frequented by visitors.

Tourism-friendly measures

“The State government has been announcing tourism-friendly measures at several pilgrim centres. But their implementation has to be speeded up. Though the tourism department runs boat-houses in different parts of the State, it has to promote adventure and water sports too, on the lines of its neighbours, to attract more tourists to lesser-known spots. Currently, the void is filled by private operators in and around Chennai,” a leading tourist operator said.

In all probability, Tamil Nadu may retain its second spot in the country in attracting foreign tourists. However, the official rankings will be released only after a few months.

^^ This is Tourism potential alone which itself is a big chunk!! Apart from this we have several people who are labours in the Middle-East, Far-East, Europe and US who would definitely use Colombo as a transit since it is going to be most probably the first International destination from IXM. We really are puzzled in what way the Sri Lankan airways management expect us to show the demand.